Courses

• CAS PO 363: Soviet Politics, 1917-91
  (Meets with CAS IR 363.) Analysis of the structure and functioning of major political institutions - government bureaucracy, Communist party, and others - and polity-society relations during the 74 years of the USSR's existence. Prime focus is institutional rather than historical and deals with the Soviet political "game" as it was played.
• CAS PO 364: The Politics of Post-Communist Russia
  (Meets with CAS IR 364.) Analysis of the emergent political forces, institutions, and alliances in the post-Soviet Russian Federation, against the background of the unresolved economic, ethnic, and social problems that are the USSR's legacy to the "new Russia"; prospects for stabilization are assessed in the context of the multiple crises facing Russia today.
• CAS PO 365: The Pacific Challenge
  (Meets with CAS IR 275.) The dynamic growth of the Pacific Rim countries poses an impressive array of challenges for the U.S. and the world. Analyzes Japanese trade and defense policies, the rise of the "mini-dragons" (Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore) and "new mini-dragons" (Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia), "Confucian capitalism," democratization (and its failure in China), and legacies of the Indochina war.
• CAS PO 366: History of American Foreign Relations since 1898
  Meets with CAS HI 287. Analysis of the history of American foreign policy from the perspective of the changing world and regional international systems; emphasis on the effect of these systems and the impact of America on the creation and operation of international systems.
• CAS PO 367: Introduction to Latin American Politics and International Relations
  Introduction to the patterns and complexities of Latin American politics and foreign policies. Focuses on the distinctive Latin American political experience and alternative explanations for it, including colonization, the international economy, and human and material resource capacity and utilization.
• CAS PO 369: China: from Revolution to Reform
  (Meets with CAS IR 370.) Explores the economic, political, and social upheavals that followed the Chinese revolution in 1949 and the cause of subsequent inauguration of reform in the late 1970s. Analyzes the tensions that brought about the 1989 upheaval in Tiananmen Square, as well as the implications of China's emergence as an economic power.
• CAS PO 370: International Conflicts and Cooperation
  Is world politics "winner take all" or mutual gain? Do individuals count? Why do nations expand? Does it pay to fight? How do friends become foes and foes friends? Can swords become plowshares? Can we make a better world? Organizing for peace and human rights.
• CAS PO 372: Making Sense of the World: Conceptual Foundations of International Relations
  (Meets with CAS IR 360.) Introduction to various analytical approaches for understanding the dynamics of global interaction. Explores the variety of "worlds" made visible through the lens of theory. Fosters critical thinking about how conceptual tools shape our understanding of the world and attempted solutions to global problems.
• CAS PO 374: Rise of China
  (Meets with CAS IR 365.) China's political, economic, and strategic development since the late nineteenth century, with emphasis on the period since 1949. Examines three questions: In what ways is China rising? How did it happen? What are the impacts of China's rise on the U.S. and the global system?
• CAS PO 375: Russian and Post-Soviet Foreign Relations
  Decisive factors in the foreign relations of Russia and the other former Soviet republics, including historical continuity and change, survival and change of ideology, domestic politics, economic and geographical factors, military and external political considerations. The future of arms control, nuclear weapons, the economy, and relations among the former republics are also examined.
• CAS PO 378: International Relations of South Asia
  Meets with CAS IR 372. Introduction to South Asia and regional conflict and cooperation. Focus on India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka inter-state relations; great power interventions; power distributions; norms; political, military, and economic conflict and cooperation.
• CAS PO 382: Europe and International Relations
  Meets with CAS IR 250. Provides an overview European affairs. Topics include the foreign policies of European nations, the dynamics of European integration, NATO, international migration and ethnic conflict, and European relations with the United States, Russia, and neighboring countries.
• CAS PO 385: Global Governance and International Organization
  Meets with CAS IR 373. Provides an overview of major theoretical perspectives on the creation and function of international organizations, comparative case studies of selected organizations, and an examination of present and future roles of international organizations in selected issue areas.
• CAS PO 388: British Law and Current Issues
  Examines controversial issues in contemporary British law, situated in their social, political, and ethical context. Special comparisons to wider European as well as American issues. Format includes class discussions, film viewings, and guest lectures from field experts.
• CAS PO 390: Africa in International Politics
  Meets with CAS IR 351. Introduction to the international relations of post-colonial Africa. Core themes include the politics of post-independence international alignments, the external causes and effects of authoritarian rule, and Africa's role in the global political economy.
• CAS PO 391: Classical to Early Modern Political Theory
  A text-oriented study of the principal political ideas of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Machiavelli.
• CAS PO 395: The European Enlightenment
  Survey of the intellectual and social transformation of Europe from the 1680s to the French Revolution. Readings draw on both eighteenth-century sources (including Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, Lessing, Smith, and Hume) and recent work by historians. Also offered as CAS HI 215.
• CAS PO 397: Catastrophe & Memory
  Examines the ways in which catastrophes, both natural and social, enter into cultural memory. Goal is to understand how events that seem to defy comprehension are represented in works of art and given a place in the memory of a culture. Also offered as CAS HI 221.
• CAS PO 401: Independent Work in Political Science
  Open to upper division concentrators. Students have a minimum GPA of 3.2 with a 3.4 in the concentration plus the ability to do independent work in the judgement of the concentration faculty advisor.
• CAS PO 402: Independent Work in Political Science
  Open to upper division concentrators. Students have a minimum GPA of 3.2 with a 3.4 in the concentration plus the ability to do independent work in the judgement of the concentration faculty advisor.

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